It can’t be morally right to have patents lasting 12 before copying (ie, sharing more cheaply) is legal, while a piece of music or book are locked-down for lifetime plus 70 years, yet through our laws, this is the reality.

This is the crux of what is wrong with current IPR/copyright law today and why DRM, copyright, etc, needs to be rolled back to a more suitable and moral level, such as was the case in 1710 when we evidentially were a more civil society.

One Response to #Copyright vs #Patents – society has it the wrong way around. 300+ years stuck in reverse. #IPR #DRM

Interesting, didn’t know about the “Statue of Anne” thanks for the pointer.
Also refreshing to have the real issues adressed instead of the usual shouting “everything should be free”/”piracy is sharing, forbiding it is censorship” mantras, or the reverse position …

And yes clearly these timings should be reviewed/changed.

Also in the context of digital publication, seems to me we really need to go through a switch, which is moving from the current “I bought this file”(or downloaded this file) mindset, towards “I bought this work or edition” mindset, and this is also what would make possible to have a real “user experience added value” in buying instead of pirating, by not having to deal with files anymore, and having a true atawad (any time, any where, any device) experience if a “global and for life licence” has been bought for some work.
But this would imply all this regulatory work around digital publications to also have a “constructive” aspect, and not only a “defensive” one in saying “governments need to fight piracy”, and to the “users” “just use the legal “services” for legal content”.
Indeed for an “atawad” environment to be possible, without being proprietary to any major technology actor, in fact a new “trusted third party” role would be required, basically holding all the licences bought by somebody (with very strong legal privacy constraints asssociated).
If not the case, then buying legal content either remains “files” (with all associated hassles in backup, transfer, synchro and overall fragility), or it is tied up to one of the few tech giants.